Monday, January 25, 2010

Alaska fishermen pick favorite life jacket

The results from last year's personal flotation device study are in. Researchers from
the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health interviewed 400 fishermen
who used four different gear types – trawls, crab pots, longlines and gillnets. Two hundred of them tested different types of PFDs for a month.

What’s behind anti-gillnet initiative

Like a methodical poker player suddenly switching to "all-in," the region's largest and potentially most influential player in sport salmon fishing is shoving all its chips forward in the gill-net gamble.

CG rescues three fishermen in Southeast

A Coast Guard 47-foot Motor Life Boat crew from Station Juneau rescued three people at Point Coke near Holkham Bay in Southeast Alaska Friday. Coast Guard Sector Juneau command center watchstanders received a distress call over VHF-FM Channel 16 at about 4:24 p.m. from the crew of the 55-foot Petersburg-based fishing vessel Alaska Adventure reporting their vessel was aground.

Ocean temperatures second highest on record

SE fishermen continue to fight B.C. mine

A bankruptcy filing by a mine company proposing to run a hoverbarge on the Taku River laid the controversial request to rest for the time being, but fishermen and environmentalists who fought the proposal are not sitting on their heels.

Ketchikan fishing boat saved from flames

The Ketchikan Fire Department responded to a report of a boat fire on float 8 Bar Harbor, behind Bar Harbor Restaurant on Saturday. The commercial fishing vessel Sable had heavy smoke venting from the open cabin door and also from a starboard window on the rear of the cabin.

Seafood company founder dies

Oregon seafood center may open again

The shuttered Seafood School in Astoria could be getting a second chance. Leaders at the Duncan Law Seafood Consumer Center are looking into a partnership with Clatsop Community College that could revive the school that closed last November for financial reasons.

Yukon kings topic at Board of Fisheries meeting

Halibut update

The International Pacific Halibut Commission is meeting this week in Seattle. Members are expected to vote on 2010 harvest recommendations on Friday morning. We’ll report the outcome with a special Fish Wrap shortly after the vote.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

What you’re missing

Here are a few headlines from February’s Pacific Fishing magazine.

Congress safety bill would cost fishermen a bundle

B.C. mine continues to poison Alaska salmon stream

North Pacific council divides Gulf cod

Halibut allocation to be better in the future

Endangered listing could kill B.C. groundfish fleet

Trident lays out plans for Cordova

Target dumps farmed salmon, to buy Alaskan

Target Corp., the nation's second-largest discounter after Wal-Mart Stores Inc., said Tuesday that it pulled all farmed salmon from its stores as it looks to be more environmentally conscious. The retailer said it will no longer carry farmed salmon in its fresh, frozen or smoked seafood sections. The move impacts national brands and the chain's own Archer Farms and Market Pantry brands, which will now use wild-caught Alaska salmon.

Humboldt County approves Klamath pact

Dutch dock fire extinguished

The Unalaska Fire department reports that Friday evening's fire at the APL dock started when some minor hot work for the crane dismantling caught a small amount of foam insulation on fire. The fire spread rapidly along the highly flammable foam and created large amounts of smoke. However, it was quickly extinguished and no one was injured. The fire only damaged the crane, which was already being demolished.

Shrimp’s dirty little secret

Americans love their shrimp. It's the most popular seafood in the country, but unfortunately much of the shrimp we eat are a cocktail of chemicals, harvested at the expense of one of the world's productive ecosystems. Worse, guidelines for finding some kind of "sustainable shrimp" are so far nonexistent.

B.C. court prohibits more fish farms this year

CG searches for sailor off container ship

The Coast Guard on Wednesday searched for a 26-year-old Myanmarese crewmember reported to have fallen overboard from the 792-foot container ship Cap Gilbert approximately 450 miles south of Adak Island Tuesday. The search later was called off.

Wine grape growers mad over water for salmon

Grape growers in Northern California's cool, fertile Sonoma County wine region are stomping mad at a new plan to limit the amount of water vineyards can pump from local rivers and streams to protect crops from frost—a proposed regulation meant to safeguard coho salmon, a species on the brink of local extinction.

Unalaska finishing design for small boat harbor

The designers of the new small boat harbor are in the final stages of public comment collection and design. The designers and the construction team, PND engineers and Pacific Pile and Marine, presented the current design modifications to city council.

Proposed B.C. oil port worries neighbors

On September 25, 2009, two hours out of Kitimat in the Douglas Channel, the freighter Petersfield suffered complete gyroscopic failure, lost steering, took a turn to starboard and struck a rocky outcrop across from Grant Point. The 26 crew members suffered no injuries and the 187-metre freighter was able to extricate itself from the rocks and return to Kitimat. Despite extensive damage to the bulbous bow, no cargo was lost.